The present invention relates to a tool for abrading and/or smoothing skin.
For health, cosmetic and economic reasons it frequently becomes desirable or necessary to abrade or smooth skin. Health and cosmetic reasons include, among others, the reduction or smoothing of calluses, growths and irregular skin areas, the removal of dead skin and skin stimulation. Economic reasons include health cost savings and any economic value of cosmetic improvements, and may also include non-health expense reduction and convenience, for example benefits derived from smoothing of women's feet that become rough resulting in less snagged and ruined nylon stockings.
Such abrading or smoothing has usually involved action by an individual or by a professional acting upon an individual, scraping or paring the skin wlth a sharp knife or knife-like instrument or abrading the skin with sandpaper, emery cloth, pumice stone or a metal file. The use of any sharp instrument is tedious and dangerous, particularly for the unskilled or less than dextrous, as care must be exercised to avoid cutting too deep and causing injury to underlying tissue. Metal files are not generally acceptable for such use. not being designed for such use, being cumbersome and often being unpleasant to the touch, seeming cold.
The use of sandpaper or emery cloth has been effective, but not as effective as the proposed invention. Sandpaper or emery cloth material is usually wrapped around the ends of the user's fingers or around some other shaped item and then reciprocated or rotated over the area to be abraded or smoothed. Hand holding the material in place during use has been difficult and tiresome. Even if held by a device, sandpaper tends to crack and fray and the abrasive particles may separate from the backing material. Sandpaper and emery cloth must also be replaced frequently because of cracking and fraying and because the abrasive-surface voids become filled with abraded skin fragments. This may also result in an undesireable interruption of the abrading process.
Sandpaper and/or emery cloth has also been used on the vibrating or rotating surfaces of hand-held electrical appliances. Such devices are relatively heavy and cumbersome requiring close control and constant attention to avoid in1ury to the area being abraded or smoothed or to surrounding tissue. Such devices are not well suited to most precision abrading or smoothing.
Pumice stone has been more commonly used for such abrading or smoothing. However, such pumice stone becomes smooth, losing abrasive quality with use as the voids in the abrasive surface become filled with abraded skin fragments. This requires perodic brushing or flushing with air or liquid to maintain the abrasive capability of the stone. Further pumice stones are fragile and often break with such use.
In addition, the prior known techniques do not lend themselves well to use by handicapped or older people whose manual dexterity is reduced or impaired.